the great shoe hunt part one

in most cases, many people of the world certainly could care less when a man goes shoe shopping. i'm sure that most of the people (both of you) that read this are probably on the list of people that don't really care when a man goes shoe shopping.

but my shoe shopping ordeal is a bit of a different scenario.

somehow, at some point in my life, my body decided to bless me with very large feet. i mean, they're not Shaq feet, but they're getting close.

my first stop was at Payless Shoe Source. the one thing i like about this place is that they put all of their stock right out in the aisles for you to see. if you don't see it, it ain't there. you don't have to deal with any pushy sales staff that think they know more about your feet than you do. i scrolled past the 20 pairs of size 13 shoes and tried a few on. not one pair fit properly, all too small. a quick glance at the size 14 selection revealed that no matter how desperate i was, i wasn't ready to wear black fake-leather velcro-strap shoes. nobody's that desperate.

second stop was some generic sporty shoe store. looking at the wall at various Adidas i was keeping my fingers crossed that they had something for me in the 13-14 range. sales guy strolls buy, i mention the deal - "how's aboot some Campus shoes in a 13-14?" i says. a few minutes later, he came back with a few different pairs and explained that it wasn't likely i'd be walking out of there with a new pair of shoes as these were the only 13's he had, and the only 14's were in basketball shoes.

off to the next shoe store: Athlete's World. though i would definitely not consider myself an athlete, desperate times call for desperate measures. i found a couple of pairs of shoes i liked and informed the salesperson to bring me a size 13 or 14.

"Do you need me to measure your feet to check the size?" she asks.

i replied that i know i'm at least a 13, but in some brands i take a 14. off she goes into the back room to find what i asked for.

or so i thought.

moments later she returns with 2 boxes of shoes, takes one out and hands it to me. i can see right away that this shoe will not come close to fitting. she informs me that she thought i should try a 12 to see if it would fit. just to embarass her a little bit i tried cramming my foot into it and said "not even remotely close to the right size, can you bring me a 13 or a 14 instead like i asked?"

what would possess you to bring a shoe that's potentially two sizes too small, i'm thinking in my head. are you completely retarded? maybe this is the reason you're selling shoes instead of finding new ways to make automobiles more fuel efficient?

long story short, nothing there either. i may have to resort to buying something online. this morning i found some Nike shoes in my size on their website, so hopefully i can get them sent to canadia.

when technology becomes confusion

at job number two, sometimes it startles me just how little the people i work with know when it comes to the world of technology. now i don't expect anyone to know the inner workings of Windows Vista or be able to forecast the year's project management expenses in MS Project, but when you say to someone "hey, you should check out Neatorama.com" - the question that comes from them seems quite odd when it asks "is that with http://www. in front of it?"

the question is perhaps even a little more odd considering the fact that the people in the office of job number two spend eight hours a day sitting in front of a computer.

and another interesting trait is when you mention the name of a website to visit, and rather than go right into the browser and type it in, they write it down on a piece of paper first.

another discussion resulted in the same person saying "why would i want to burn a DVD - i wouldn't be able to use it then would i?"

yeah.

sometimes i rhyme slow

two weeks ago today was the last time i posted something here. i knew that i've been busy, but wasn't entirely aware that my goofing-off-interneting time had been so seriously impacted.

in that time the weather finally warmed up and i've spent a ridiculous amount of time working. the only cool thing about working so much is that my two-year debt reduction plan is actually making a visible impact on the amount of money i have to pay out in bills every month.

hopefully this week i'm going to be bringing my bike out of seasonal retirement. i've kept a winter layer of padding around my belly that i'd like to get rid of. i'm quite anxious to hop on to my Trek 7.3 FX (Martini was asking what kind i had) and get out riding, though i know i'm going to have to take it easy at first because i've gotten myself out of shape this winter.

i'm gonna do some of the upgrades that i mentioned earlier - put some good grips and bar-ends on it, and maybe those pedals that clip onto the bottom of your shoes (which would mean that i've got to buy shoes too darn it). it's been a pretty good bike so far. i abuse it like a mountain bike, but it rides pretty quickly. it's no race bike, but it gets the job done well at a good price. certainly something i'd recommend to someone who was thinking of taking their bicycle as an option to commute to work.

i'm debating doing another long trip this year like i did last year, but giving myself an extra day or two to do it so i don't kill myself riding 300 km on the hottest days of the summer (again).

this morning i went to the effort of making a pot of coffee and even putting it in my travel mug. that travel mug is still sitting on my kitchen counter, so now i have to drink crummy work coffee. the pope would be very angry.

possibly the best site ever

i have come across the best ever - though i can't take full credit for having found it.

http://nintendo8.com/

clicking the above link will allow you to play pretty much any nintendo game ever done. and i don't mean those crazy new games, i mean the old-school NES. they're all there - Super Mario, Double Dragon, even Adventure Island and Skate or Die 2.

click. play. enjoy.

overly so

i made a startling realization last night of how dependent on technology i have become and how quickly it happened.

last night when i hit the button on my keyless entry thing (which is ironically on the key) for my Toyota Yaris i noticed something very very odd.

the doors did not unlock.

i pressed the button again. and again. and again. each time i noticed that the "click" of the doors unlocking was not happening.

i stood there puzzled for a moment trying to figure out what to do next. i had my cell phone in my hand and actually debated for a moment calling the Toyota dealership to ask them to fix it for me.

then it occurred to me - if i put the key into the lock, and TURN it, something might happen. miraculously this resolved my temporary dilemma of being outside of the car and needing to get into it but what do i do in the long run?

my first guess after much long and difficult thought was that i should perhaps try changing the battery in my key for keyless entry. stupid technology.